Boxes are used everyday for many purposes. They are used for storage, shipping and even gift-giving. Because of the variety of uses, boxes come in a variety of sizes and shapes. From boxes that hold a small piece of jewelry to ones that hold refrigerators.
But when a box is manufactured by a manufacturing company the box is usually shipped in a three-dimensional form. The manufacturing company than must pay for additional shipping cost for empty space within the box. Additionally, the boxes are also more susceptible to damage when shipped in this fashion.
To overcome these shipping problems, box designers have made collapsible boxes. These boxes are shipped flat and need to be constructed by the ultimate user of the box.
To construct these boxes, the user must unfold the box and place certain folds into certain slots, or in the alternative use glue or tape. These actions are time consuming and labor intensive. Stores must pay for this extra time to construct these boxes. The consumer at the store also has a delay because the boxes will usually be constructed in front of the consumer. This delay results in loss time for all parties involved.
Some stores in order not to delay the customer may employ extra personnel to build boxes. This, however, does not alleviate all of the stores problems because now the store must find space to store the boxes in their three-dimensional form. This means there will be less space for the products in which they stock.